Kenneth Branagh’s Boris Johnson transformation baffles viewers: ‘That’s Kenneth Branagh?!’

‘Branagh might have one of the strangest bodies of work in film history,’ one commenter wrote

Kenneth Branagh’s transformation into Boris Johnson in the trailer for This England has left viewers scratching their heads.

The British actor will take on the role of the prime minister in This England (previously called This Sceptered Isle), a Sky drama about Johnson’s tumultuous first few months in Downing Street amid the first wave of the pandemic.

When the trailer was released on Wednesday (18 May), viewers were left baffled by the actor’s “uncanny” transformation.

“THAT’S KENNETH BRANAGH?!” one Twitter user asked.

Another tweet read: “Only in the last picture does this man remotely resemble Kenneth Branagh.”

The trailer confused social media users for a number of reasons.

“Absolutely slayed by the fact that they’ve given Kenneth Branagh (61) old person makeup to play Boris Johnson (57),” one viewer joked.

Branagh as Johnson (Phil Fisk/ Sky UK Ltd)

A number of tweets pointed out the questionable quality of Branagh’s make-up in the video, with one viewer writing: “Branagh looks like he’s wearing one of those human masks in the movie the Possessor.”

“Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson has very ‘about to rip his mask off and reveal he’s the Master’ energy,” another said.

In general, viewers were confused how the Branagh had gone from a Best Picture nomination for Belfast, the film he’d directed, to playing Johnson in a TV film that one viewer said looked like “a s*** Youtube parody”.

“Branagh has the most confusing career,” one tweet read, while another commenter wrote: “Branagh might have one of the strangest bodies of work in film history.”

Another tweet read: “Branagh’s career is so f***ing weird. Just whipping around from weird Shakespeare/Poirot vanity projects to literally whatever will give him the money so he can keep doing the former. What’s the American equivalent.”

This England will air on Sky in autumn 2022.